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The Jewish Pogroms 
in Ukraine 



Authoritative Statements on the Question of 

Responsibility for Recent Outbreaks 

Against the Jews in Ukraine 

BY 

JULIAN BATCHINSKY 

DR. ARNOLD MARGOLIN 

DR. MARK VISHNITZER 

ISRAEL ZANGWILL 

Documents, Official Orders, and other Data bearing upon 
the facts as they exist today 



COMPILED AND ISSUED BY THE FRIENDS OF UKRAINE 
MUNSEY BUILDING, WASHINGTON. D. C. 

1919 






-^6 



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^^^-^ 



FOEEWORD 

The following data has been compiled and issued by the 
Friends of Ukraine in the hope and belief that it will serve 
to set right before the American people any misunderstanding 
that may exist in this country concerning the true position of 
the Jewish inhabitants of the territory of the Ukrainian Peo- 
ple 's Republic ; and to convince them that the Government of 
that Republic is earnestly working with every means in its 
power to insure to its Jewish population the same civil and 
political rights and the same full measure of protection to life, 
liberty, and property that it guarantees to all law-abiding 
citizens. 

A dispassionate reading of the facts as herein presented, 
including the testimony of several among the world's most 
prominent Jewish leaders, is invited in the belief that it can 
not fail to convince all fair-minded Americans that the 
Ukrainian People's Republic is founded upon these principles 
of Justice and Equality that inevitably shall result in a 
"Government of the People, by the People, for the People." 






The Jewish Pogroms in Ukraine and 
the Ukrainian People's RepubHc 

By 

JULIAN BATCHINSKY 

the Ukrainian Diplomatic Representative to the United States 



(A Letter to the Editors of American Newspapers, published in 
October and November, 1919, by the New York Globe, the 
Philadelphia Public Ledger, Brooklyn Eagle, St. Louis 
Jewish Voice, New Orleans Jewish Ledger, N. Y. Hebrew 
Standard, Jewish Monitor of Fort Worth, Texas, Jewish 
Advocate of Boston, Mass., N. Y. Evening Post, and others.) 



Dear Sir: — 

Will you grant me aii opportunity to say what I know and 
what I feel about the Jewish pogroms in Ukraine? 

While all the distressing particulars of the tragedy and the 
number of mournful casualties are still to be ascertained, let 
us still hope that they have been smaller than reported in days 
of peril and anguish. The facts can not and must not be 
denied or justified or excused. However, they should be more 
clearly understood by every Jew and by every Ukrainian, by 
the American democracy, and by the world at large. In the 
name of humanity and for the future of Ukraine we should 
take a common stand, Jews and Ukrainians, that responsi- 
bility be fixed and punishment be brought to the guilty; that 
the wrongs committed there be righted, and that Ukraine be 
made a safe home for all its citizens, Jews and Gentiles alike. 

A Bepiihlic ''By and For People of All Creeds and 

Races/ ^ 

I would be derelict to the duty laid upon me by my govern- 
ment and to the principles upon which it is acting and fight- 



ing if I should express any other opinion. Neither can I keep 
silent. The Ukrainian People's Kepublic is intended by the 
people and for the people of all creeds and races of Ukraine. 
Though guiltless, we owe it to a due regard for our own rights 
as a nation that we do not hide ourselves behind the excuse 
that we are not our brother's keeper. 

So sincerely do we believe in these things that I speak the 
mind and the wish of my government when I say that it is 
its earnest desire and purpose that full justice be done to the 
Jewish people in Ukraine in their time of distress and dismay. 
The government of the Ukrainian People 's Republic is anxious 
that an international investigation, careful and detailed, with- 
out any political consideration and without favor or disfavor 
to any one, should look into every crime committed on the 
bloodstained soil of Ukraine and establish the responsibility 
of the criminals. 

Beady to Accept any Inquiry by Am,erica and 
American Jetvs. 

It is ready to accept any inquiry that may be made by 
America and by American Jews. It insists that the Ukrain- 
ian People's Republic, its aims as well as its ways and means, 
and the Ukrainian national movement in general be included 
and submitted to a most scrupulous examination. 

I beg only the privilege that the heading of the indictment, 
"Pogroms in Ukraine," may not by itself and not in advance 
imply a ready judgment upon the Ukrainian People's Re- 
public and its government. They are protecting the land and 
the people of Ukraine against things that they can not control 
or alter, namely, the action of others. 

Since the very revival of Ukrainian national aspirations 150 
years ago, Ukraine's struggle for freedom has remained un- 
infected by any jingoistic greed, nationalistic ambitions or 
racial prejudices. Until the late decade there was no such 
thing as a reactionary party in Ukrainian politics, because any 
form of allegiance to our nationality and even the very name 
of Ukraine were considered as evidence of disloyalty and trea- 
son against czarist Russia. When the growing strength of 



the Ukrainian national movement had begun to convert some 
of the reactionary elements, its main aims and objects were 
already safeguarded under revolutionary control. 

No Quarrel with the Jews for Several Generations. 

I want you to realize that for several generations past we 
have had no quarrel with the Jewish people. Of course, a 
handful of Jewish bourgeoisie lent themselves to support the 
Russian domination in Ukraine and the Polish rule in Ukrain- 
ian Galicia against the people and the democracy of their 
countries. For generations no evidence can be traced out, 
either on Ukrainian nor on Jewish side, of any antagonism 
between Ukrainian national aspirations and the Jewish peo- 
ple, Jewish nationality and Jewish life in our country. There 
has been no reason for any antagonistic tendencies. 

And yet, a sinister spirit of pogroms rules throughout 
Ukraine. It was the spirit of czarist Russia. The adminis- 
tration, the bureaucracy, and the police of the empire, school, 
church, and yellow press were instrumental in setting the 
population of Ukraine against the Jews. It is a matter of 
common knowledge that Jews were persecuted and outraged 
and slain to avert growing dissatisfaction of the workingman, 
and the pauperized peasant, and to justify further repression 
of liberal elements. Many a Ukrainian pauper and many a 
Ukrainian scamp received their murderous weapons and their 
ignominious orders from the criminals much higher up. 
Ukrainian democracy, muzzled and strangled, was so deprived 
of any influence on what was happening, under the czar's rule, 
as the unfortunate victims themselves. 

Bonds of Common letter est Between Races in 
Galicia, 

In Eastern Galicia, where, in spite of oppression and perse- 
cution, the Ukrainian democracy has succeeded in controlling 
the feelings of the people, no outburst of racial hatred has 
ever been recorded, the proximit}^ of Russia, Poland and Rou- 
mania and the anti-Semitic efforts of the Polish administration 
notwithstanding. Moreover, during the last years the Ukrain- 



iaus and the Jews in Galicia have been drawn closely together 
by bonds of common interest and of mutual understanding. 

After the breakdown of the Russian empire, the Ukrainian 
People's Republic has been established on the territory of 
Ukraine, and at the very inception of this republic the first 
Ukrainian Parliament (Central Rada) has abolished all racial 
restrictions enforced by the Russian government, and has pro- 
claimed the principle of self-determination and of full liberty 
of self -development for all racial groups, carrying out these 
principles in practice. 

Being one of the principal racial minority, the Jews in 
Ukraine have had granted by law a full autonomy and have 
had secured by the Ukrainian government all moral and ma- 
terial means that are necessary for the development of their 
nationality and for the advancement of their national culture. 
Jewish representatives have been invited and admitted to a 
real participation in government and to leadership in deter- 
mining the destinies of the country. Our friendship was ac- 
cepted without reservation, and I can say with a good deal 
of confidence that there was no Jewish faction in our country 
which did not admit that the Ukrainian People's Republic 
meant the realization of the best hopes and rights of the 
Jewish people in Ukraine. 

Looking Forward in Hope to Bays of Recon- 
struction. 

I have no disposition to boast of what my government has 
accomplished — in 1917. It has merely done its duty. We 
have always believed — and we still hope — that in days of re- 
construction the Jewish population of Ukraine will be of in- 
finite service to the country. As a matter of course, they 
will become conscious of their moral partnership only when 
they experience the fullest freedom of their independent 
growth. 

We have waited many months for these days of readjust- 
ment and recuperation to come, and they have not come. It 
is very hard to say in quiet phrases what has happened in 
Ukraine since the revolution. War and disorder, devastation 



and confusion, became the lot of the distracted country. The 
Ukrainian People's Republic has had to defend its very ex- 
istence against German invasion, against Russian Bolshevist 
conquest, against Poland's noble legions, against Denikin's 
Cossack raids, and the dark forces behind them, against in- 
ternal strife, against marauding bandit gangs, against an eco- 
nomic ruin, against a complete breakdown and disaster. 
For the Jew, this disaster resulted in pogroms. 

Fairness in Judgment as to Who are the Guilty 

Who are the guilty ones? Who has to bear the ghastly re- 
sponsibility ? 

The errand I am bound on to America, comprises no obli- 
gation to lie either for my country or for my countrymen. 
Before we condemn anybody we have to sit in judgment upon 
ourselves. I must admit that information now in my pos- 
session fully establishes the fact that in one case — a very se- 
vere one (Proskurow) — soldiers from the Ukrainian People's 
Army were the perpetrators. It was not upon the impulse of 
the government, nor upon a military command that they slew 
helpless people. It was not with knowledge of Simon Pet- 
lura, but against his strictest orders and against the purpose 
of the Ukrainian People 's Republic. 

There is some evidence of old-fashioned provocation or of 
■criminal mistake or wilful disobedience on the part of the 
local commander in several other, fortunately less disastrous, 
cases. Just these cases, wherever the name of Ukrainian 
People's Republic or of Simon Petlura is involved, we want 
to be investigated first of all. 

But, allow me to say, these are rather exceptional cases. 

Spirit of Czarist Russia Kept Alive hy Dark 
Forces. 

The spirit of czarist Russia is being kept very much alive, 
not only through the efforts of Denikin, his backers, but by 
the dark forces hidden throughout all the territory of the 
former Russian Empire, by the rank and file of the old Black 



8 

Hundreds, by many others. It is the Russia of infamous 
memory against which the Ukrainian People's Republic is 
fighting for deliverance. 

It is also known that pogroms have been carried out in 
Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian Bolshevist armies. 
Jews have been robbed and driven from their homes and slain 
by Bolshevist marauders and by Soviet troops themselves, 
which are characterized by a great varietj^ of discipline and 
of purpose. 

In Western Ukraine — Galicia and a part of Volhynia — 
Jews, as well as Ukrainians themselves, have been persecuted 
and outraged and starved out by invading Polish legions. 

Finally, large parts of Ukrainian territory seem to be a No 
Man 's Land, where various bandit gangs are preying upon the 
people. They comprise adventurers and brigands mostly, of 
— I am sorry to admit — Ukrainian language and descent, the 
same as lynching mobs in America consist of Americans. 

Little of Disturbed Area Controlled hy Ukrainian 
Government 

The bloody tide swept within its wave almost all the ter- 
ritory of Ukraine. Only a small part of this territory was 
controlled by the Ukrainian People's Republic. The pogroms 
in Ukraine took place during the winter and spring months. 
Even in December the Ukrainian government lost the con- 
trol of Eastern Ukraine, and the Ukrainian army fought its 
retreat battles against advancing Bolshevist armies. Since 
February the territory controlled by the Ukrainian govern- 
ment has grown still smaller, including only parts of Podolia 
and Volhynia, and by the end of winter the main body of the 
Ukrainian army had been forced to pass over the Galician 
border. Speaking of pogroms, may I not insert that maraud- 
ing soldier bands who tried to continue their work in Ukrain- 
ian Galicia have been put down and executed by the Ukrainian 
peasants themselves. 

The reconquest of Ukraine was begun in the summer, but 
still the Ukrainian People's Republic is in power only in 
Podolia, Volhynia, and in the government of Kiev, as far as the 



city of Kiev and the district of Uman. In this territory, I 
think I can say with confidence, the dangers are now passed 
and overcome. 

The government of the Ukrainian People's Republic is 
willing to redress all wrongs committed against the Jews 
in Ukraine, even when these wrongs have been committed by 
its worst enemies, but it must decline any moral responsibility 
for innocent blood, to prevent the shedding of which it has 
done its utmost. 

The Ukrainian Government not Criminally Negli- 
gent. 

But the question arises: Has not the Ukrainian govern- 
ment been criminally negligent? It has not. The director- 
ate — the present Republican government which has overthrown 
the Hetman regime — immediately after having assumed the 
power, re-enacted the national autonomy law, and called upon 
the population of Ukraine to regard the Jews as friends and 
as allies of Ukrainian democracy. Proclamation after proc- 
lamation aga^-^st pogroms and order after order against 
evildoers have been issued. Millions of rubles in damages 
have been paid and hundreds of murderers and provocators 
have been executed. There has been no Ukrainian government 
without Jewish secretaries being in it. Many of them are well 
known Jewish labor leaders ; all of them are true Jews in whose 
word the Jewish world can have the utmost confidence. 

I deeply regret to say the government did not succeed even 
in exterminating all outlaw gangs. Some day it will be shown 
how they made their narrow escapes. Many a cutthroat found 
refuge by hissing the flag of Bolshevism or the image of 
Saint Russia. I instance only the most notorious cases of 
Machno and Grigoriev. Machno's bands were surrounded 
by the punitive forces of the Ukrainian government early in 
winter, after they made their first appearance in and around 
Katerinoslav, but they were rescued by the rapidly pro- 
gressing Bolshevist advance. After having supported the 
Bolshevists, Machno joined Denikin and left Denikin to es- 



10 

tablish himself again independently. While changing his 
allegiance, he never stopped harassing Jews. 

The unspeakable Grigoriev revolted against the Ukrain- 
ian government which tried to check his pogrom activities 
and went over to the Bolshevists and was appointed Bolshevist 
commander in south Ukraine. Then he betrayed the Bolshe- 
vists and is now traitorously gathering the reactionary forces 
around him, the very same forces that had driven the Ukrain- 
ian people to revolution. 



Strongest Possible Government Under the Cir- 
cumstances. 

The government of the Ukrainian People's Republic is not 
powerful enough. But there is no government anywhere and 
there has never been a government which would prove 
stronger in these circumstances. 

The Ukrainian People's Republic was set up thirty months 
ago. The Directorate — the present government of the Ukrain- 
ian People's Republic — assumed the control eleven months 
ago. 

They are expected to organize and to reconstruct a country 
which has been disorganized and exhausted and corrupted 
by more than a century of czarist misrule. They are ex- 
pected to assert the principles of right and humanity and to 
safeguard peace and security in spite of continuous war, and 
revolution within and without. They are expected to do this 
while assaulted by three powers, each of them superior in 
arms, money, diplomacy, and propaganda. They are ex- 
pected to do it while they have to bar the invading Bolshe- 
vist Russia. They are expected to do it while they are facing 
the eastward march of Polish imperialism to the west and the 
counter-revolutionary Russia to the east, both of them being 
supported and supplied with all the resources of western 
Europe. They are expected to do it without any support from 
anywhere, with a peasant army in rags, with only a strong 
will to protect their country for their weapon. 



11 

Reliance in Final Victory for the People of 
Ukraine. 

It will be done. We rely on the people of Ukraine and on 
the final victory of justice and democracy, no matter how 
many times and by whom they were betrayed. But it could 
not be done right away. 

After you read the charges contained in documents which 
are being issued in Warsaw or in Rostov or in Moscow — use 
your own judgment. Ukraine is practically isolated from 
the rest of the world. The governments fighting the Ukrain- 
ian People's Republic disseminate the most foul charges 
against those they are trying to destroy. Recently in cor- 
respondence emanating from Rostov, and from Paris, the 
war between Denikin's Russian army and the Ukrainian 
People's army has been represented as "a struggle for and 
against Israel." Denikin is protecting the Jews and this is 
why Petlura, who is relentlessly against them, has declared 
war against Denikin. I ask you to supply your hard business 
sense: can you think that these are differences between the 
Czarist generals and the Ukrainian People's Republic, of 
which government four Jews are a trusted part and a Jew 
is assistant secretary of war? Is this the issue? 

I know that on this side of the water, we have to face a very 
great deal of misjudgment with regard to our national aims 
and principles. 

Jetvisli Inquiry Invited in Name of Government. 

In the name of the Ukrainian government, Simon Pet- 
lura, president of the Ukrainian People's Republic, issued a 
special message inviting the representatives of the Jews out- 
side of Ukraine to investigate the pogroms and the attitude 
whieli the Ukrainian government has been taking and is 
taking toward the Jews. This message has been delivered to 
the Jewish committee in London. 

Acting upon instruction from my government, I extend 
this invitation to the American Jews. Their representative 
organizations are requested — through their representative 
men, men of their choice and confidence — to look into the 



14 

sufferings of their brethren and sisters, to ascertain the 
causes and the consequences, to establish the responsibility 
and to take any steps it might be necesary to take to prevent 
future violence. 

American Jews Particularly are Asked to 
Investigate. 

In particular, the responsible organizations of American 
Jews are requested to investigate: whether the Ukrainian 
People's Republic is organized to brigandage and revolt 
against everybody and everything, or whether it has been 
founded to obtain independence of a long oppressed country, 
and whether the Ukrainian People's Republic is spreading 
racial hatred and intolerance, or whether it stands for equal- 
it}^, freedom and free development of nationalities and un- 
dictated autonomous self-development of any race or nation- 
ality in Ukraine; whether the Ukrainian People's Republic 
is warring upon the Jews, or whether the Jewish representa- 
tives are a responsible part of its government and Jewish 
men are fighting side by side with their Ukrainian fellow- 
citizens for Ukraine and for the common cause of all her 
people; whether the Ukrainian People's Republic is guilty 
of crimes committed against the Jewish population, or whether 
it has spent every energy to keep the Jews in Ukraine out of 
danger, to punish the criminals, and to heal the wounds of the 
sufferers. 

Widespread Unprejudiced Consideration is 
Sought. 

It is earnestly hoped that the results of this inquiry may 
receive wide-spread unprejudiced consideration. 

I am speaking for the Ukrainian Government when I say 
that the investigation will meet with its support and approval, 
and I think that I can say with as much confidence that the 
investigators will find that all measures have been taken by 
the government to safeguard Jewish lives and interests and to 
secure to Jewish citizens of Ukraine the full enjoyment of 
their acknowledged rights. The Ukrainian People's Republic 
will live up to the hopes of so many of the best and truest 
Jews in Ukraine who put their trust in her. 



15 

Soldiers of the Ukrainian People's 

Republic Ordered to Respect 

and Protect the Je\vs 

Daily order hy the Supreme Commander to the 
troops of the Ukrainian People's Republic 

No. 131. 

August 26, 1919. 

This order will be read in the divisions, the brigades, the 
regiments, the battalions and the companies of the armies of 
the Dnieper and of the Dniester and in the detachments of 
the insurgents : 

* * * The sinister men of the ''Black Hundred" 
and the "Red Hundred" are but one band. They are 
assiduously weaving the spider's web, provoking pogroms 
of the Jewish population, and on many occasions they 
have incited certain backward elements of our army to 
commit abominable acts. They thus succeeded in defiling 
our struggle for liberty in the eyes of the world and 
compromise our national cause. 

Officers and Cossacks! It is time to know that the 
Jews have, like the greater part of our Ukrainian popu- 
lation suffered from the horrors of the Bolshevist-com- 
munist invasion and follow the way to the truth. The 
best Jewish groups such as the "Bund", the "Unified", 
the " Poaky-Zion " and the "Folks Party" have will- 
ingly placed themselves at the disposal of the sovereign 
and independent Ukraine and cooperate with us. * 

It is time to learn that the peaceful Jewish population, 
its women and children have been oppressed in the same 
way as ours and deprived of national liberty. This 
population has lived with us for centuries and divides 
our pleasures and our sorrows. 

The chivalrous troops who bring fraternity, equality, 
and liberty to all the nationalities of Ukraine, must not 
listen to the invaders and provocators who hunger for 
humaii blood. Neither can they remain indifferent in the 



16 

face of the tragic fate of the Jews. He who becomes an 
accomplice to such crimes is a traitor and an enemy of 
our country, and he must be placed beyond the pale of 
human society. 

Officers and Cossacks! The entire world is amazed at 
your heroism. Do not tarnish it, even accidentally by 
an infamous adventure and do not dishonor our Republic 
in the eyes of the world. Our enemies have exploited the 
pogroms against us. They affirm that we are not worthy 
of an independent and sovereign existence and that we 
must be enslaved once again. 

Officers and Cossacks ! Ensure the victory by directing 
your arms against the real enemy, and remember that our 
pure cause, necessitates clean hands. I expressly order 
you to drive away with your arms all who incite you to 
pogroms and bring them before the courts as enemies of 
the State. And the tribunal will judge them for their 
acts and the most severe penalties of the law will be in- 
flicted on all those found guilty. 

The Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic 
has addressed an appeal to all inhabitants of the country 
to resist the activities of our enemies who provoke the 
pogroms of the Jewish population. 

I order all troops to listen well and to retain this appeal 
and to spread it as much as possible among their com- 
rades and among the people. 

Petlura. 
Commander in Chief. 



17 

The JeAvs in the Ukraine 

Interview appearing in the ''Jewish Chronicle," 
of London, England, granted by, 

DR. ARNOLD MARGOLIN, 
Representative of the Ukraine at the Paris Peace Conference. 

Dr. Arnold Margolin in explaining the position taken by 
the Jews towards the formation of the new state, said: 



''At the time of the proclamation of Ukrainian inde- 
pendence, the Jews were divided into two camps. On 
the one side were the Jewish assimilators, who had been 
brought up in an All-Russian political atmosphere, and 
who adopted a negative attitude towards the formation 
of the Ukrainian State. This party, which numerically 
was not important, was supported by a number of Jewish 
refugees from old Russia. On the other side were ranged 
the National Jews, the Zionists, Itoists, and Jewish So- 
cialist parties, who took up a favourable attitude. Those 
Jews who had national aspirations of their own could not 
but view with favour similar strivings on the part of a 
people which had hitherto lived in a position of tutelage. 
The principles laid down by President Wilson as to the 
rights of small nations were bound to be applied to the 
Ukrainian people. So far as the social programme of the 
State was concerned, the Jews were also divided into two 
camps. One group, which was not very numerous, went 
hand in hand with the advanced parties of the Left, which 
aimed at the exclusion of the bourgeoisie from State af- 
fairs. To this group belonged the left wing of the Bund 
and the Poalei-Zion. The other group took up the stand- 
point of those Ukrainian parties who supported the prin- 
ciples of a general franchise and who sought to apply to 
the Ukraine the political system which obtains in West- 
em Europe. They eschewed Utopian experiments and 
Maximalist aspirations. Although there were these dif- 
ferences in regard to the social and economic conditions 
involved in the creation of the Ukrainian State, nearly all 
Jewish parties and organizations were united on the ques- 
tion of the right of the Ukrainian people to determine 
their ultimate political destiny on popular lines." 



18 

Jewish Autonomy 

What was the attitude of the Ukrainian authorities towards 
the Jews? our representative asked. 

' ' In the Ukraine, including Galicia, there are three and 
one-half million Jews, as compared with nearly forty mil- 
lions of the general population. The Jews thus form 
nearly eight per cent of the total inhabitants. On the 
initiation of the new regime, a Central Eepresentative 
Parliament was formed, composed of all parties in the 
country, including the Jews. About seventy per cent of 
the seats on this body were held by Ukrainians proper, 
the remainder being allocated to representatives of the 
Jews, the Poles, and Russians. This Parliamentary body 
showed its willingness to grant more concessions to Jews 
than had any other constituent assembly in history. It 
conceded autonomy to all minorities in the State, and 
three Ministers were appointed for the affairs of these 
minorities, including the Jews. A noteworthy act of the 
parliament was to appoint a Court of Cassation, those 
judges being selected who had had the courage to oppose 
the Russian Government in the Beilis trial. In April, 
1918, I was almost unanimously selected as a member of 
this Court." 

Dr. Margolin further describes the changes which took 
place when the original Ukrainian Government was over- 
thrown, and superseded by the Government of Hetman Sko- 
ropadsky : 

"At the end of April the Hetman Government came 
into power, and the Central Parliament was abolished. 
The autonomy of minorities was also withdrawn, but no 
serious inroads were made on the political rights of the 
Jews. The Court of Cassation was not disturbed, and 
the members were given the title of Senator. A Jew, 
M. Gutnik, of Odessa, was appointed Minister of Com- 
merce. The Hetman regime lasted eight months, and 
when it was overthrown by Petlura, the new Government 
restored the autonomy of minorities and again appointed 
Jewish Ministers. M. Goldelmann, a member of the 
Poalei-Zion, received an Under-Secretaryship, and I was 
appointed Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs. I re- 
tained my seat on the Court of Cassation, though I did 
not act in my judicial capacity while I held a portfolio. 
Jews were also included in the various diplomatic mis- 



19 

sions dispatched by the Ukraine Government to foreign 
countries. Thus, Dr. Vishnitzer, the well known his- 
torian, and one of the editors of the Jewish encyclopedia 
published in Russia, is one of the secretaries of the En- 
glish mission. Jews are included in the press and secre- 
tarial sections of the French mission, and a Jew is one of 
the secretaries of the Dutch mission." 

The Pogroms 

How do you reconcile the outbreak of pogroms with this 
favourable attitude towards the Jews? 

"There is this difference between the pogroms which 
have unhappily taken place in the Ukraine and those 
which occurred under the Tsarist regime. Whereas the 
latter were instigated and connived at by the authorities, 
the Ukraine Government has steadfastly set its face 
against the pogroms, and it has had no part in, or respon- 
sibility for them. At the time of Petlura's coup d'etat 
at the end of November, 1918, I myself read, in numerous 
towns and villages in the Ukraine, proclamations issued 
by the Government strongly condemning pogroms, ex- 
plaining to the people that the Jews were fellow-citizens 
and brothers who were helping in the evolution of the 
Ukrainian State, and to whom the fullest rights were due. 
The proclamations declared that pogroms must tend to 
discredit the Ukraine in the eyes of the civilized world, 
and those who took part in them were no friends of their 
country. 

"Unfortunately, after the Bolshevists took Kieff, and 
disintegration set in among the ranks of the Ukrainian 
forces, the worst element of the army started pogroms. 
Once more the Government disavowed them, sentenced 
the perpetrators to death, expressed their deepest sympa- 
thy with the Jews and promised the fullest compensation 
to the sufferers. I must unhappily admit that the last 
pogroms as to which I have information — those of Feb- 
ruary and March last — were very bad, thousands of Jews 
being killed. They were instigated by criminals, Black 
Hundreds, and Bolsheviks, who wished to discredit the 
Ukrainian Government. These events made a deep im- 
pression upon me, and at the end of March I tendered my 
resignation. I stated that I was aware that the Govern- 
ment were not to blame for the pogroms, but that, as a 
Jew, I felt that I could not retain an official position in a 
country where my brethren were being massacred. My 



20 

resignation was not accepted, and the Government begged 
me to continue to give my services at least abroad, and 
I was appointed as one of a mission of four to represent 
the Ukraine at the Peace Conference, my colleagues be- 
ing the former Ministers, M. M. Sidorenko, Paneiko, and 
Shulgin. The prevalence of pogroms in the Ukraine 
may be partly attributed to the fact that the Ukrainians, 
although constituting a distinct political entity, were sub- 
ject for 250 years to Russia, and have acquired, as an 
evil inheritance, what I may call the pogrom habit. It is 
at least a matter for satisfaction that there is no anti- 
Semitic tendency in the Ukraine Government, which dif- 
fers in this respect, very notably, from that prevailing in 
Poland. It is to the progress of democratic ideals in the 
Ukraine that we must look for the elimination of the evil 
pogrom element." 



21 

Justice and Polity Demand Fair 
Treatment of the Jews 

by 

DR. MARK VISHNITZER 

Jewish Historian an^ Editor of the "Jewish Encyclopedia" 
and the "History of the Jewish People." 

After Ukraine had shaken off the centennial chains of for- 
eign sovereignty and was proclaimed as a free State, it was 
thought in leading Ukrainian circles that autonomic, national 
rights should be given to the nationalities that have, since 
ancient times, been domiciled in Ukraine. Thereby peace 
would be secured among the different nationalities in the new 
State, and the co-operation of all the different tribes of peo- 
ple would be gained for the building up of the Ukrainian 
republic. 

The scope of this decision can be appreciated when we re- 
member what the Ukrainian people have suffered in the course 
of time from national suppression. But it was also wise, 
farseeing and beneficial to the State to win over the minori- 
ties to the cause of the new State, for those minorities — Rus- 
sians, Jews and Poles — have always been, and are still, in 
numbers, reputation, cultural development and economical 
consideration, important factors in the country. 

Guarantees of the Ukrainian Parliament 

In order to safeguard the national interests of the afore- 
said nationalities, special State-Secretary offices were estab- 
lished. In the first so-called ' ' Universal, ' ' or proclamation to 
the people, "Central Rada" (the Ukrainian Parliament) 
promised to protect the national rights of the minoritj^ na- 
tionalities. In the third "Universal" the "Rada" went still 
further and granted national personal autonomy to the Rus- 
sian, Jewish, Polish and other minority nationalities, and held 
out prospects of a special law in this respect being made. 
Thus the Jewish question, which has been worrying most 
European countries, was solved in a clear and natural way. 



22 

Proved l)y Experience of Latter Years 

The experiences of latter years have proved to us that it 
does not pay to have a civil emancipation of the Jewish in- 
habitants. We realize more and more that the civil emanci- 
pation can not be the final solution of the Jewish question, 
and that the recognition of all people as equally entitled mem- 
bers of a State is the consequence of the recognition of all 
nations as equally entitled factors in the progress of human- 
ity. Thus this demand which the Jewish civil and socialistic 
parties present with more and more force is for the first time 
recognized as authorized and is fulfilled in Ukraine. 

The law proposed by the government has been elaborated 
by the Secretary of State for Jewish Affairs, and on January 
9, 1918, it was unanimously passed by the Central Rada. In 
this law it was solemnly declared that all people in Ukraine 
have a right to national-personal autonomy, i. e., a right of 
independent determination of their national life, especially by 
means of national leagues composed of members of the re- 
spective nationality. The right to national-personal autonomy 
is an inviolable right. This right can not be denied any peo- 
ple in the Ukrainian republic, and neither can it be restricted 
for those who enjoy it. The national league has a right to 
impose taxes on its members and to take all steps that it finds 
necessary to protect all cultural and other demands. 

Jewish Life Able to Develop Freely 

Owing to the political conditions the law has not yet taken 
effect, but during the two years the independent Ukrainian 
State has existed public Jewish life has been able to develop 
freely. The Jews in Ukraine have the most extended national 
rights. The Jewish language is officially recognized, a Jewish 
ministry has been able to develop its activity. Jewish con- 
gregations have been able to thrive in freedom, and new Jew- 
ish schools have grown up. In the newly founded university 
at Kamenetz Podolsk, the government has established a pro- 
fessor's chair for Jewish history and literature, and hereby 
the national rights of the Jewish people have been still more 
emphasized. 



23 

Jewish Aspirations PeaceaUy Attained 
The Government in East Galicia (the West Ukrainian Re 
public) has, in every case, shown much understanding with 
respect to the demands of the Jewish inhabitants for autono- 
my. The Jews have here, as in Great Ukraine, without fight- 
ing and without any special exertions, attained what they 
have striven after and are still striving after in other coun- 
tries, for instances in Poland and Roumania. It was, at least 
lately, necessary at the peace conference to fight some of the 
Poles. The arrangement with the Poles contains a whole 
series of provisions with respect to political and national rights 
for Jews, but all these together can not anywhere near equal 
the regulations of the Jewish question which have been estab- 
lished by the Central Rada in its grand law concerning na- 
tional-personal autonomy. There is lacking a central Jewish 
school system ; there is even lacking an organ for Jewish au- 
tonomic organizations in the country, even the nucleus of 
national autonomy is lacking. 

The Roumanians even refuse to give the Jews the slight 
admissions granted them by the Poles, but they will probably 
submit to the pressure exercised by the Allied Powers. No 
matter how this turns out, the Polish agreement does not con- 
tain the provisions that the Jews are striving for. The Jews 
in Ukraine will lose much if the imperialistic aspirations of 
the Poles, Russians and Roumanians for Ukrainian land 
should become a reality. 



24 

Israel Zang\vill Commends New Re- 
public's Attitude Toward the 
Je^vs in Ukraine 

(A letter from Israel Zangwill, noted writer and President 
of the Jewish Territorial Organization, in reply to an invita- 
tion by the Ukrainian Government to participate in the com- 
mission for the investigation of Jewish pogroms in Ukraine.) 

October 20, 1919. 
THE PRESIDENT OF THE DELEGATION OF THE 

UKRAINIAN REPUBLIC 
Dear Sm: — 

I feel highly honored at the invitation of the Ukrainian 
Government to take part in the proposed Commission for the 
investigation of anti-Jewish pogroms, but I am away in Wales, 
resting under medical advice, and do not feel the strength to 
undertake the journey. Moreover, if Doctor Yoehelman, a 
member of the Council of the Jewish Territorial Organization, 
forms one of the members my organization will be sufficiently 
represented. I take the opportunity of saying, however, that 
it needed not this step, nor even your honest admission of the 
deplorable facts as regards the towns, to convince me that 
your government is working hard, if not perhaps its hardest, 
to stop massacres for which the unsettled state of Russia is 
largely responsible. 

The national rights you have given to the Jews are a mani- 
festation of true statesmanship and in shining contrast with 
the Jewish policy of Poland, and I can only hope th-at your 
Republic will be preserved to give the rest of the world an 
example of the strength and the exalted patriotism that comes 
from the cordial co-operation and mutual respect of all the 
varied racial and religious elements that make up a modern 
State. That these massacres, if they continue, will destroy 
your State no less surely than its innocent victims, adds to the 
regret with which I, as a supporter of the principle of self- 
determination, observe your present failure to suppress them 
entirely. 

Again thanking you for the honor of your invitation, 
f^ ' Sincerely yours, 

^ T^ *• 0« Israel Zangwill. 




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